Cheating at Flying
by patxaran
Summary: Yugi and Atem attempt to endure the flight to Egypt by tagging each other out of that hell every few hours. This earns them the animosity of their fellow travelers, particularly Jounouchi. A short and sweet humor fic.


**Note#1:** This fic was written as a gift for YGO Secret Santa gift exchange on tumblr and was posted on tumblr originally.  
 **Note#2:** This fic follows the manga continuity just because I wanted to include Ryuuji to match the username of the gift receiver. The main difference between the manga and the anime is that, in the manga there's Ryuuji and Ryou on the trip to Egypt, but there's no Seto.  
 **Note#3:** I have no idea how long it takes to fly to Egypt from anywhere, much less Japan. I just went with an exaggerated time span and made sure not to name drop any particular airports.

* * *

Well before they'd even hit thier first layover, Yuugi had become the envy of everyone else on the trip to Egypt. Though he hadn't drawn attention to it, sometime between takeoff and landing, he'd begun intermittently changing places with Atem. Together, they worked as a team to ensure maximum comfort for both selves. Jounouchi was perceptive and the first to notice it happening a few hours into the first flight. He hadn't kept it to himself, either. Everyone else was forced to endure narrow seats and the faux pas of invading their neighbor's personal space with errant elbows while half-conscious, whereas Yuugi had the luxury of being able to check out and enjoy the roomy accommodations of his soul room. Jounouchi loudly proclaimed this to be not fair, and spent the rest of the trip making offended comments every time he noticed the person inhabiting the body in the seat next to him had changed.

Jounouchi had been the one to volunteer Yuugi as the group-appointed guard of everyone's carry-on luggage during the first layover. If Yuugi was going to cheat at flying coach long-haul, then Yuugi could babysit the bags while everyone else took advantage of their few chances to stretch out and relax during the forty-seven hours of travel. Yuugi tried to argue that, although his mind was fresh, his body was still just as tired and achy as everyone else's. Jounouchi told him to deal with it before plopping his bag and then himself down on the ground at Yuugi's feet and falling asleep.

Midway through the second flight, and despite all their very best efforts to make the trip bearable for each other, Yuugi and Atem at last began to feel the sharp pangs of physical and emotional suffering that inevitably accompanied cheap, tortuous air travel. The periods in which one soul continuously occupied their body grew longer and longer in accordance to the growing reluctance of the hidden self to tag the present self out of their shared corporeal existence. They began to bargain with each other, but neither had anything the other wanted so desperately that they'd endure six more hours of flying alone and uninterrupted. At last it came down to bickering, and then drawing straws. Or rather, they made their seatmate, Jounouchi, flip a coin.

No matter the outcome, both Yuugi and Atem lost. One merely lost right away, and the other would lose in six hours. Yuugi lost right away. He'd have to sit through the rest of the flight occupying their aching and exhausted body without reprieve. When they reached the final layover, Atem would do all the walking to the next gate and then mind the bags. And, because the final layover would be only two and a half hours, he'd also have to manage the subsequent three-hour flight that would finally bring them to their destination.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Yuugi," said Jounouchi with an impish grin. Yuugi suspected Jounouchi would've behaved the exact same regardless who'd won. Jounouchi was just happy that Yuugi and Atem got to suffer at last. He loved the sweet taste of just retribution.

"I wish I'd brought a neck pillow," said Yuugi wearily. On a deep, subconscious level, he was trying very hard not to literally burst into tears. He couldn't imagine enduring how terrible he currently felt for six more hours. "My neck hurts from leaning forward so much. So do my shoulders. So does my back. Everything hurts."

"You should've invited Kaiba to Egypt," said Honda, who was on Jounouchi's other side. "Maybe he would've got us a private jet. I mean, it'd have been shaped like a dragon or some weird shit, but it'd have been better than flying coach commercial."

"Dragons aren't weird shit," muttered Ryuuji in a voice so tired and low that Yuugi almost didn't catch it. He head was propped against Honda's shoulder, and he was as near to sleeping as anyone could be expected to get on a series of long, international flights. Which meant he was awake enough to hear everything anyone said, but his eyes were closed and sometimes everything went fuzzy and twenty minutes passed without him feeling those minutes individually. When he managed to speak loud enough for anyone to hear, there was the distinct impression that he was only partially present in the current moment.

"I did invite Kaiba," said Yuugi. He shrugged and massaged his forehead as legions of pain amassed behind his eyeballs and trailed along his skull and around the nape of his neck. "He never responded. I left a message with his assistant, and his brother, and even his butler. Remember? We were all waiting to buy our flight tickets until he replied. He never did. So, we just went ahead without him."

"Oh yeah, I remember there being some kind of time issue when we got these tickets," said Honda. A wayward strand of Ryuuji's hair prodded him in the face, and he swatted it away. All it did was swing back and hit him in the eye. He grumbled at it and then tucked it behind his head. Ryuuji stirred fitfully, but said, and did, nothing.

"I'm so tired," said Yuugi as he spied Ryuuji's shallow, inconsistent, but still incredibly enviable, state of semi-restfulness. He spoke in despair as he held up his flimsy and plasticky-smelling complementary pillow that was meant to provide some level of comfort during the long light. With a sigh, he pressed the two ends together until the pillow nearly disappeared from sight, squeezed tightly between his two cupped hands. He then released it, and the way it sprang back to its former shape carried a note of reluctance. The pillow itself was suffering.

"Ryuuji's got the right idea. You can use my shoulder to support you, if you want," said Jounouchi. "I can't sleep on airplanes, so you don't have to return the favor. I'm just listening to music."

"Are you sure, Jounouchi? This feels like the absolute nicest thing anyone's ever offered to do for me."

"Yeah, Yuugi. Don't worry about it. And this is a standing offer, too. Anytime you're tired, my shoulder is open to you, 24/7."

"Really? I kinda thought you'd make me suffer because I was switching places with Atem this whole time, and it wasn't fair."

"You're damn right it wasn't fair, but now you've decided to join us normal people and be miserable, and I approve of that decision. Also, to be honest, if I had some other guy in my head or soul or whatever, I'd be switching places, too. Hell, I'd barricade myself inside and not come out. Let that poor bastard deal with two days worth of travel and jet lag. Hell yes."

"Lucky for Atem, the Puzzle chose me."

"And lucky for you, you get shoulder privileges."

"You mean Atem doesn't?"

"Yeah, well…. I dunno how to explain it, but the idea of Atem falling asleep on my shoulder is really weird and kinda uncomfortable. You're not allowed to switch places with him while exercising your right to my shoulder support, okay? That's the one condition."

"I can definitely work with that," said Yuugi. He then leaned to his right, against Jounouchi's proffered shoulder, and shut his eyes.

Yuugi spent the rest of the flight in the same half-sleeping haze as Ryuuji, while Jounouchi watched movies and listened to music. He was gradually nudged awake every half hour by unbelievable pain in his legs and shoulders, like he'd resurfaced from the artificial sense of sleep and numbness imposed on a people who'd just undergone a surgery. Then, he'd shift position and drift off again to repeat the process many more times until the flight landed.

* * *

 **endnote:** I guess the dark side of this fic is that Yuugi is going to have to endure the entire flight home alone. _Thanks, Atem._ Boy's gonna need more than just a shoulder to rest his head on for the trip home, Jou... (As in he's gonna need a shoulder the cry on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...)


End file.
